Sweet Valley Chapter 10: Bruce is in Love with Elizabeth, also Winston is Dead

I go away for one week and I come back to this shit. Matthew, you let the characters get away with too much while I was gone.

Sweet Valley Confidential Chapter 10:

Before we get to all the thrills alluded to in this post’s title, Elizabeth and Will have their first fight. The day starts off well enough, with Will returning to rehearsals and everyone getting along, having resolved their issues off-screen.

After rehearsal Elizabeth and Will meet up so she can interview him. Instead of actually interviewing Will, though, Elizabeth tells him that Liam is going with her to her grandmother’s birthday party. Will is mortified.

“I hope you’re kidding.”

Suddenly, Elizabeth felt uncomfortable. She had to explain that it wasn’t like it sounded.

“You’re bringing Liam to your grandmother’s party to seduce your sister, right?” said Will.

“No. I’m bringing him because I don’t want to go alone and Liam happens to come from L.A. and he’s planning to visit his parents.”

“And …”

Given Will basically knows nothing about anyone involved in this situation, it’s pretty hilarious that he’s convinced that this plan is dangerous and will go off without a hitch.

Will is like, “Omg this is such a bad idea. You are cruel and using your twin knowledge for evil!” This causes Elizabeth to storm out, adding tension to her newfound and instantly amazing friendship with Will.

At home, Elizabeth gets a phone call from Bruce and he informs her that he’s her date to her grandmother’s birthday. I guess this is the kind of event where it would be embarrassing to show up without a date. What would grandma think?

After being informed Elizabeth is already bringing someone, Bruce gets upset and is convinced Elizabeth is dating someone even though she says she’s not. This is apparently a traumatic conversation for Bruce as we switch to his POV and discover he’s been in love with Elizabeth for ten years. Gasp!

We’re also treated to a massive info-dump about Bruce’s life:

Girls were just conquests to him, until Regina Morrow. It was different with her. He fell in love for the first time. But he wasn’t ready for that kind of exclusive love, and he screwed up. He hadn’t lost the habit of other girls, and she found out. He never got a second chance. She went to that party with the drugs, tried some cocaine, and it killed her. After that he was even worse. Nobody meant anything to him.

Then both his parents die in a car accident. His father is first in a coma for 6 days, during which time Elizabeth starts keeping Bruce company at the hospital and they become best friends/he falls in love with her.

Bruce is rich in money but poor in non-tragic life experiences. You really get the sense that we are supposed to be like, “Elizabeth! Quick! Fall in love with Bruce and don’t die so he doesn’t have to face even more tragedy in his otherwise charmed life.”

I feel like there should be other reasons I’m rooting for Bruce and Elizabeth to work out, like chemistry, but we actually don’t get any real dialogue between them in any of the hospital flashbacks or conversations over the phone.

I mean, we get this:

It’s late afternoon, about six thirty, and I’m browsing through Facebook pictures when the phone rings.

“Hey, Bruce.” Her voice is enough to make me tremble. Lucky no one can see.

“Hi, Lizzie, what’s up?”

“You’re amazing. You’re one of the few people outside of my parents who can always tell us apart on the phone. You can, can’t you?”

“Absolutely. What’s up?”

Given Jessica and Bruce aren’t friends, and presumably Elizabeth’s name comes up when she calls, this seems like a really stupid thing for Elizabeth to get pumped about. But I guess if Bruce is supposed to be a viable love interest, this is the best we’ve got to work with.

In his flashback, Bruce reveals that he had figured out Jessica and Todd’s secret but that he loved Elizabeth too much to break her heart. He thinks back to the time he was going to tell her, but things don’t go as planned. They’re out to dinner together, and before he can tell Elizabeth what’s going on, a Sweet Valley-er runs into the diner and announces that Winston…is dead.